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**johndmuller** · June 11, 2003, 19:28

2111 Turn

2111 Turn Discussion

The BootyBoat made its first visit to Treasure Islet this year, under the cover story of dropping a new Land Former - as you well know, the true mission was to bury the treasure we removed from the Unity, along with a few chests of earth from the olde homeland so far away - now we have a place we can truly call home. We plan to make of Treasure Islet an aboreal paradise and make a beautiful park where we can release the parrot ("Awwkkk!, . . . and Cockatoos, too too . . . Awwkkk!" screeches Baretta) strains we have also broght from Earth. Hey!, I just found out that we don't have to kill the shore detail anymore when they bury the treasure, we just give them some of that new batch of Xenorum and they can't even remember their first names, let alone where the gold is. Hmmm, what is gold anyway, . . . who am I, . . . . "Awwkkk! BrownBeard, you ^%#$!, wake up and gimme some of that hardtack. . . . Awwkkk!"

Well, we found some more resource goodies in both the northern and southern seas, including two very good looking Sea Base sites, at (54,56) and at (59,73). The pod at (46,64), on Treasure Islet yielded up another (nut) resource special (that looks like a good place to put a forest while the former is there). There is another Unity (sea) Pod at (64.74) which we plan to pop at the beginning of the next turn (after temporarily adjusting our production at Tripoli to a potential freebie build). The patrol ships will continue to explore their respective areas, trending generally east for the moment, although the schooner to the north may come about and head north briefly and then back to the far west after a turn or two. The BootyBoat is taking the northern route to 'Rita, etc., as detailed in the chart above.

I posted the almost-end turn here so you'all can make suggestions should you wish, ~~for a couple of hours at least; will finish it up later tonight and send it off~~ although I am sending it off now, so . . . .

**johndmuller** · June 14, 2003, 06:01

2112 Turn Narative

2112 Turn Discussion

"Ahoy on deck, Ahoy on deck, Ship Ahoy, Ship Ahoy . . . and a pretty *&%#@in' strange lookin' raft thing it be too".

"Cap'n, ye better have a look-see at that-un sir, if you please, sir; . . . , and sir, . . . , if you please, sir, . . . I'm shamed to say, sir, . . . "

"Out with it matey!" says the Cuspidore, picking up the spyglass and pulling it out to its longest range, "I be lookin to see where that &^%$in Pod from the Unity went to - it couldn'ta just disappeared." shouted BrownBeard; "Ye be lookin' a bit strange yerself, Cap'n Hercules, you pick up that SARS thing at the sailor joint you spent so much time at back in Liar's, Har, Har, what zit called, the China Doilies?"

"It's my head, Cap'n, it feels really strange, like there be somethings crawling around inside me skull - and they seem to be talkin' too, but I don't know what they be saying, . . . , and there be these funny red patches in me eyesight . . . , and no, I aint been hittin' the bottle on the watch sir, you know I don't do that, I aint had a drink since I left The China, I swear it on me sister's honor."

"Sure, Cap'n - you ever hear tell about the DeeTease? That's what ya got, if ye be askin' me - and I suppose you don't know what to do about that either, doya, Cap'n. Well Brother Herc, let me help ya out; . . . Now we heres know ye don't be hittin' the xenorum on the job, and there's be some that say thats wrong and there be somes say that be the right thing to be dooin, or not dooin, an one or two of em be right good Cap'ns too, so you gots every right to stay sober on the bridge if you believe in that, an don't let any'o'em tell you no otherwise. The thing that makes some of the other Cap'ns nervous is when they see you on your own time . . . and drinkin' from the water barrel at 3 in the afternoon . . . and some say they even seen you besmirchin' the name of the Revenge by drinkin a coffee or tea in public ashore - they just don't say it in front of me if they know what's good for 'em, . . . , cause they know I think your one of our best Cap'ns, gonna be a Fleet Admiral one o these days, mark me words, an' not just a tiny fleet, like we got now, but a real fleet, full o xenorum and cannon and real big Jolly Rogers all about. . . . well enough of that; what methinks you need for yer Dee Tease is some o that Hairy the Dawg stuff they got below decks in the 'firmry, that'll fix ya right up - and if ye wants me advice, . . . , when you be drinkin' it, make a point to do it out there in front o the men, like on deck down there by the kegs, or if you want to sit down, go foredecks to the Rope Room, there be always a good crowd in there smokin' on the rope, or many of 'em now, on the xenoweed instead, but they still use the Rope Room for it anyway. I guess it's be a tradition now. . . , anyways, just get good an' plowed, . . . , an don't fer a minute be worry'd what the men be thinkin' bout you singin' or throwin' yer dirk, or whatever you be fond o dooin'; they'll just love ya all the more for it you be lettin' down yer hair wit em. So git along wi ye an' say me best to Hairy, we be old frends, Hairy & I, Har, Har, Har."

", , , and don't be worryin' bout that thing out there," says BrownBeard, raising the scope as Cap'n Hercules wanders off, hittin' hisself upside the head, apparently to clear up the cobwebs or somethin', "We be all over that thing like a . . . What the &^$##^* %^$%#$*!!!, is that!!!! %$%%in thing!!!!!! - Well Blow me Down, Cap'n Dameon, git me a ^*&%$#@ big &*(*^% bottle o yer best stuff, a big (*(&$& ceegar an sound General Quarters - 'ceptin' for Cap'n H, he's got orders to the 'firmry."

(later)

". . . so anyone know what the &(*^ that was?", asked Cap'n Maki, "Some o the men, they just went crazy-like, no, no, no, I don't mean like they usually get when we throw a boarding party, more like they wuz fightin' with theirselves instead of those (*&*^^in' things. I swear I saw Cap'n GeminiRai - looked like he wuz tryin' ta tear his'n own eyes out, an shoutin' nightmare stuff, like somethin's were eatin im inside the head - an he hadnna no 'weed neither, even though he wuz actin' kinda like it, only worse - - - then when we pulled up abeam o' it he just done dove right into the middle of all that crawly lookin' stuff. I swear, he was total cold sober if never I swear again; he aint never gooin swear agin' or anythin' else by %&^$&#.. An ya know, it almost seemed like of the other men, the men who wuz the drunkest had the easiest time o' it, just cuttin' up the tentkils like they was gooin to dance class or somethin'; the others, they be takin a good swing with the cutlass and then jerkin the 'lass about lika they be gittin shocked. . . ., and you, Cuspi, you sure had a load on - it looked like yer eyes were crossed further than a borg with a short, but you cool as can be just threw those kegs of Cap'n FlameFlash's Secret Distillate Recipe on the thing and then made one o those Molly Toffer Cocktails outta what was left in yer bottle, takin' a big puff outer yer ceegar, stuffin in the bottle as a fuse an givin it the old Heave Ho an Thar She Blows . . . an did it ever! I just wonder why you bothered wi the Toffer, you coulder just lit ter up with yer breath, ya know Har, Har, Har. . . ."

". . .So that's what happened to my bottle and ceegar", mused the Cuspidore, "gotta git me somemore, . . ., that was quite a trip, it was, . . . but Maki, I think yer onter somethin with what yer said about the men most inter bag beein the ones what fought the best - an that must be why Cap'n Hercules was feelin so freaked out too - I think you've put yer finger on one of the secrets matey, of this here planet, yer have - - here, have half of this new bottle with me - midicinil purposes - or maybe now a big hit o hooch, its part of our guard duty routine. . ."

". . .And about what they were - Let's call 'em Isles of Death, an one o these days, mark me words, were gonna have some of 'em flyin our flags, we are, and one thin you can be sure of - most ot those landlubbers from Earth, they aint never in a million years gonna figure out those secrets, smart as they think they be."

So there you have it, the saga of the Cuspidore and the Isle of Death, and we got 20% damage and 30 ec's - now the Unity gunship is disciplined, I don't know what it was before, but I didn't see an improved morale message. Otherwise, nothing real exciting - there's another pod up north to pop, I'm wondering whether we want to pop it or not - Rita, the nearest base will be finishing up a build, so there'd be nothing to gain in the instabuild area, might be worth waiting an extra turn on a side trip to kill time.

Will wait 3 or 4 hours at least for you'all to make comments if you want before submitting the turn. Near end of turn link here.

**Googlie** · June 14, 2003, 08:59

I started all units as Disciplined (to account for the somewhat greater number of mindworms and IoD's that were encountered in the test game)

So if the gunsloop was the original (name?) then it'd be disciplined already (but should haver gained a morale upgrade if that were its first IoD encounter) - if it is the one produced in the base then it'd be green, and would have thus been upgraded to Disciplined.

G.

**Makahlua** · June 14, 2003, 21:41

I was also checking the report screens - the Drones have started the Merchant Exchange, FYI

**johndmuller** · June 17, 2003, 22:35

2113 Turn Discussion

The momentous event of the year was bringing in our first harvest of Earth-descended, Chiron-grown Kelp; almost certainly the first raised by human hands, although our explorers have witnessed at least one other kelp-patch created by one of Unity's AutoAgraPods. This historic harvest suggests that the initial area will produce enough to feed half the current population of 'Rita. The Cuspidore's University ~~slave~~ advisor claims that not only will the kelp will spread by itself to adjacent areas, capable even of supplanting the strange red tide - 'sea fungus', but that it should be possible to increase the already generous yield, given investments in biotechnology ("Yeah, right", says Brownbeard, "like we're gonna start the effin' Youniversity of the Sea to grow more seaweed!" - "Awwkk!" adds Baretta, "in your ^#^%@ pipe, Sharkbait, . . . Awwkk!" - "Hmmm", replies the Cuspidore, ". . .hang up some of that weed in the sun to get it dried out and then run it by the men in the rope room - we could use some cash crops out here if we want to have any honest income."

The schooner up north sailed up to (the wreckage of) a Unity Pod, discovering that a heavy foot locker had come loose during the breakup, lodging itself inside the delicate workings of what looked like it must have been a DataPod. "Ensign Googlie, Political Officer Specialist - ad astra - Unity", was stenciled neatly on the top of the trunk. "That's another one that geek disabled", mutters Captain Flameflash hauling the heavy trunk aboard and dropping it on the deck with a loud dissonant noise, made up of splintering wood and something metalic, "Awwkk!, . . . Pieces of Eight, Mateys", screeches Baretta, " . . . Pieces of Eight . . . Pieces of Eight . . . Pieces of Eight, . . . Awwkk!. . . . Awwkk!". A general meelee

ensues, with quite a few bloody noses and soon-to-be black eyes or future patches; finally, the shouting is drowned out by two enormous reports, "KAAPOW!, . . . KAABLAMM", and the Cuspidore strides forward and grabs off the two nearest sailors and tosses them aside, nearly throwing them overboard. "Alright Mateys, Alright - everyone gets one coin only - two if yer not wounded yet . . . and puts the rest in the strongbox - and two rations of rum for everyone." - ("Awwkk!, three cheers for the Cap'n,

. . .Awwkk!") - "An someone fetch the Uni Egghead; mayhaps he can get something out of this junk." Final tally for the strongbox = 60 Pieces of Eight; ". . . Betteren one of those #$*&#$ Sown-ner Pods!", muses BB.

The Unity gunship down south discovered another monolith on what may be a large island or else a headland attached to the mainland by a peninsula, whatever it is, the long-glass spies a mountain peak or two off the port beam, sticking up high, protruding through the thick cloudbank obscuring what-eer lies b'tween. We plan to sail east and north in an attempt to sail around this territory. "Keep an eye out for those @%^%^in Missionaries", shouts Cap'n Fllubber, ". . . I think I hear drums and smell incense!"

Almost end of turn save here for comments, final turn and remarks ~~to be sent in 3 or 4 hours (or more)~~ sent.

**Flubber** · June 18, 2003, 12:11

Me only comment matey is that we seems to be hoarding our pieces o'eight. If'n I was the one decidin' I woulda spent some of that gold fer two more schooners. The gold sittin' in a chest ain't no good to man nor beast.

We got bases buildin' colonies and I agrees wit dat but we could rush a ship or two and not delay dem colonies which gotta wait fer ther transport anyhow. It may be too late and we don't wanna waste any minerals now.

On de exploration side, I recommends dat we send one a de ships on a long range cruise. Der could be riches far away and people te meet. We knows our home waters good enuff now and if'n ye builds anudder shiop er two dey can explore some more

**FlameFlash** · June 18, 2003, 14:08

Some extra exploration would probably be good...

**Mark123jansen** · June 18, 2003, 16:15

I would go for massive (sea)colony pod production, finishing or buying one every time a base grows, as long as we can afford it or until we meet another faction

**Flubber** · June 19, 2003, 13:44

Originally posted by Mark123jansen
I would go for massive (sea)colony pod production, finishing or buying one every time a base grows, as long as we can afford it or until we meet another faction

I agree with that idea but currently we have enough ecs that we could rush a couple more ships and rush the colonies two. At the moment we are limited by our growth rate mainly.

**johndmuller** · June 20, 2003, 12:45

Well, the PUT and the Borgs are giving us plenty of time to think about this move, so I guess a little discussion about the general drift of our build program might be in order as there have been some suggestions lately that we build more ships (and more colonies too). It might also be a good time to start thinking about our next research project, which could get us into a more general discussion about whether we want to grow any of these early bases or if we are going into a full blown ICS mode. I think that I'll just focus on the short term issues in here and start up a dialog in the Chartroom about the longer term ones. Presumably the Borgs will get the turn out this afternoon (as they will be exceeding the new deadline if they don't - aren't we glad we pushed for lenient time-frames, the first turn afterwards, the Uni took nearly 48 hours, this (2nd round after) round the Borg are pushing 48).

So, we are now producing a Former at 'Rita, to be finished this upcoming turn. Our Booty Boat is coming into port there at the end of its turn too and will allow the Former to disembark onto land at (56,62) - this is a slight change from our previous plan to take the former over to (55,61) in the boat; this way the former can move on the river and start the forest at (55,61) the following year instead of having to wait an extra year. Following the general drift a few turns ago, we had slated Rita to start building a Sea Colony on the next turn. We could build another Schooner there first if that is the will of the Cap'n's Council; it could be rushed after it gets over the 10 threshhold and wouldn't slow down the SCP by more than 2 or 3 years. The projected population growth at 'Rita is not a problem, as it will still be well ahead of the next increase; if there is a trade off here, it is probably in support, as 'Rita is our highest support base (about to have its 4th unit (2PoE support cost / turn); with another Schooner, it will have a net cost of 3PoE, which will grow temporarily to 4 when the SeaColony for (54,56) is completed. We should be able to sluff off at least 1 unit onto that new base and get back down to a net cost of 2 PoE at 'Rita. Sorry for the details run-on, but once you start down that path, there is no turning back. Anyway, I don't see a serious problem with the support there, so I will plan on changing to a Schooner at 'Rita instead of a SeaColony unless the groundswell goes the other way.; we can use it to NW past the partly enexplored island north of Treasure Islet (name up for grabs) and continue on North and West.

Regarding Tripoli, it will finish its Colony in 2116 (also cleverly timed to coincide with the arrival of the Booty Boat) and its next build is also currently slated to be a SeaColony. The Cuspidore would recommend sticking to that plan, but another Schooner could probably be squeezed out, even though the population pressure at Tripoli is more of a factor. BTW, does anyone know how the game adjusts population after building a colony - specifically, I am pretty sure that the pop will still be at 2 afterwards, but how full will the growth box be? (It will be nearly full, at 31 of 33, the turn before). We will get the chance to check that out when the colony is built, but we may need to rush a proposed SeaColony there anyway to avoid a Doctor, so the extra several turn delay to build another Schooner might be too expensive.

At Liar's, we are at the beginning of building a SeaFormer; we could switch to another Schooner at a minimal cost (1PoE) if we wanted to. There is no particular support or growth problem, but the SeaFormer would be useful to develop the two Min specials and the Cuspidore is a particularly leary of prematurely discovering the existence of another faction on Morgan's Boot before we have planted our own colony there. I believe that the way the game treats borders, if we haven't yet met any occupants of the territory, the borders are not yet established, allowing us to build a colony at a place that might trigger a build/vendetta moment if we had already met the faction. It won't be long before we have the Tripoli Colony to plant there, and the proposed Schooner could go SW for a bit first before circling around to the West, delaying any inopportune discoveries til after our colony is on the Boot. I have a neutral opinion on this one and am totally swayable by public opinion.

In summary, I would be in favor of inserting a new Schooner ahead of the SeaColony for 'Rita; tentatively against doing the same at Tripoli; and neutral w/r changing from a SeaFormer to a Schooner at Liar's.

**Googlie** · June 20, 2003, 20:27

At Liar's Lair you could change from the seaformer to a Schooner (lose 1 mineral) and then pay 10 ec's to rush to complete in 1 turn

You're not losing too much as you can then change to a seaformer next turn, and rush it a turn later (the first row should then be completed - your current 6 mins/turn would reduce to 5 with the new schooner's support)

re: Tripoli

Next turn you'll be 2 nuts short of a new pop (with 5 nuts being produced at that base) and the CP will be 1 turn away

Turn after that will open with the base increasing to 3 as the 5 nuts are added (2 needed) then the pod will build, reducing the pop to 2 again, and then the 3 unused nuts will go into the first row (but I've also experienced where all 5 (in this instance) would go into the first row, much like the ec's in the stockpile energy bug, but I think that was just in games where I'd switched mid game to take over a weak AI - it might be a "game correction" feature for the AI to ~~cheat~~ give it a helping hand)

G.

**johndmuller** · June 20, 2003, 21:25

Originally posted by Googlie
re: Tripoli ...
Next turn you'll be 2 nuts short of a new pop (with 5 nuts being produced at that base) and the CP will be 1 turn away

Turn after that will open with the base increasing to 3 as the 5 nuts are added (2 needed) then the pod will build, reducing the pop to 2 again, and then the 3 unused nuts will go into the first row (but I've also experienced where all 5 (in this instance) would go into the first row, much like the ec's in the stockpile energy bug, but I think that was just in games where I'd switched mid game to take over a weak AI - it might be a "game correction" feature for the AI to ~~cheat~~ give it a helping hand)
G.

According to Cap'n BB's University ~~slave's~~ advisor's forecast, there will be 31 nuts in the growth box at Tripoli next turn (2115) with 5 to be produced. Even if the CP were not going to be built in 2116, the base would still not grow until 2117 (there is a 'dormant' turn after the nut box is completely full) so the nut/growth box will contain well in excess of the 22 needed to have a full nut box at pop=1. In my experience, this results in the pop remaining at 2 (or dipping to 1 and being immediately replenished) and the growth box starting off with a noticable amount of nuts, like 1 row or so, instead first growing to 3, using all the nuts and then being debited to two by the CP's construction, as you reckon. BB's University ~~slave~~ advisor is usually quite proficient and pays good attention to details (unlike his predecessor, Prof. Sharkbait), so we would tend to go with his forecast, although the Cuspidore himself certainlly wouldnt' be able to add his way around a hopscotch box. I did wonder if anyone knew exactly how to calculate that remainder.

Interestingly enough, when Liar's went from pop 1 to pop 2, it had previously had a carry-forward of 2 during it's 'dormant' year and a production of 2 at the beginning of this year, but only ended up with a previous balance of 3, instead of the 4 predicted by the University ~~slave's~~ advisor. BTW, no problem with the analysis of the Schooner/SeaFormer numbers, except that Cap'n BB is rather a cheapskate when it comes to rushing things that need so many mins as would the SeaFormer when it first crossed over the 10 threshhold. He generally doesn't think very hard about rushing units with more than 10 to go (he does like to rush facilities, like hopefully soon to be available RecComms) unless feeling very flushed, with rum or with cash, or very desperate, as the case may be, none of which seem to apply at the moment (pending the thwack of some of the Cap'n's Council's knives with notes to the contrary attached. The Cuspidore's main thoughts on building the SeaFormer first is that it will be built with the higher production level in effect - the Schooner can be rushed more easily in that it needs substantially fewer mins to build and so is not so sensitive to the production rate. All that said, the SeaFormer is not so desparately needed as to require being built right away, so it would be perfectly reasonable to build the Schooner first just to have the Schooner sooner.

**foolish_icarus** · June 20, 2003, 22:33

I'm for leaving the production schedule at all the bases the same. Build the colonies/formers before the gunships.

**Mark123jansen** · June 21, 2003, 06:18

Hear Hear,

Make pods not guns

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Turn Thread for MY2111 thru 2120

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